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Monthly Archives: October 2013

I was doing some research yesterday and ran across some articles discussing the Obama Administration’s definition of terrorism. One such article was from The Blaze, and I know that Glenn Beck is meticulous about his research, so I pursued the resources he shared, and sure enough, I found the report published by the Department of Homeland Security. I pulled the following from it:

“Detailed information on each category of ideological motivation can be found in the Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism-United States report compiled by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (Miller, Smarick, and Simone, 2011). Briefly, the report describes each category as follows:

Extreme Right-Wing: groups that believe that one’s personal and/or national “way of life” is under attack and is either already lost or that the threat is imminent (for some the threat is from a specific ethnic, racial, or religious group), and believe in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in paramilitary preparations and training or survivalism. Groups may also be fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation), anti-global, suspicious of centralized federal authority, reverent of individual liberty, and believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to national sovereignty and/or personal liberty. The first sentence includes everybody preparing for emergencies, including preppers, the Boy Scouts, and anyone else who follows the news. The second sentence includes just about everyone else. So why have all of the other criteria. Why not make it a one-page memo and move on? Just for kicks, though, lets look at the rest of the list.

Extreme Left-Wing: groups that want to bring about change through violent revolution rather than through established political processes. This category also includes secular left-wing groups that rely heavily on terrorism to overthrow the capitalist system and either establish “a dictatorship of the proletariat” (Marxist-Leninists) or, much more rarely, a decentralized, non-hierarchical political system (anarchists). Hmmmmmm…the Obama Administration is openly funding the Muslim Brotherhood and is arming radical Syrian rebel forces known to be primarily Al Qaeda, although Obama and John Kerry have tried to market the situation differently. In addition, Obama clearly is instituting a socialist/Marxist agenda.

Religious: groups that seek to smite the purported enemies of God and other evildoers, impose strict religious tenets or laws on society (fundamentalists), (this takes care of all Christians) forcibly insert religion into the political sphere (e.g., those who seek to politicize religion, such as Christian Reconstructionists and Islamists), and/or bring about Armageddon (apocalyptic millenarian cults; 2010: 17). For example, Jewish Direct Action, Mormon extremist, Jamaat-al-Fuqra, and Covenant, Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) are included in this category. While this document contains the word “Islamists,” please be aware that Obama has since purged hundreds of documents of anything to do with Islam, Jihad, and Muslims. Apparently they are no longer to be considered any kind of a threat. According to FBI spokesman Christopher Allen, “The FBI purged documents according to four criteria: “factual errors”; “poor taste”; employment of “stereotypes” about Arabs or Muslims; or presenting information that “lacked precision.” I would like to see that criteria applied to the rest of the groups that Obama has targeted.

Ethno-Nationalist/Separatist: regionally concentrated groups with a history of organized political autonomy with their own state, traditional ruler, or regional government, who are committed to gaining or regaining political independence through any means and who have supported political movements for autonomy at some time since 1945. Each state in the union meets this criteria, doesn’t it? The Obama Administration has made a clear movement toward weakening state sovereignty, the Common Core Standards Initiative being a glaring example of this effort.

Single Issue: groups or individuals that obsessively focus on very specific or narrowly-defined causes (e.g., anti-abortion, anti-Catholic, anti-nuclear, anti-Castro). This category includes groups from all sides of the political spectrum. If the previous criteria did not catch just about every American in its net, this one certainly does. I don’t know of any person anywhere that doesn’t have at least one single issue that they feel very strongly about, and are ready to argue it or support it at a moment’s notice. From rights for students with disabilities and stopping Common Core, to pro-abortion, pro-life, gun rights, gun removal, gay rights activities, anti-gay…who isn’t on this list by this criteria alone? Isn’t the fact that we are FREE to disagree and have our beliefs one of the beautiful principles on which this country was founded?

When I sit back and digest this information, along with the wealth of reports regarding anti-Christian training in the military, homeschoolers now considered domestic terrorists, Obama’s open disparaging of the Constitution, and parents’ rights under government attack, I see a very clear and discouraging picture of where we are as a nation. This is a non-partisan issue. It’s an American issue.

I used to be concerned and speak out about our freedoms slowly eroding away right before our eyes and our being oblivious to it. Now, I am saddened because erosion was apparently too slow–the government now just uses a bulldozer right out in the open.

Have we not enjoyed these freedoms, holding them as fundamental to our nation’s survival? Have not thousands of military members and police men and women sacrificed heavily to protect these freedoms? Are we truly ready to just give them up.

I have no doubt that I am on a list of some sort, because I am not willing to go quietly. Are you willing to join me?

“The National Sexuality Education Standards were further informed by the work of the CDC’s Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool(HECAT)3; existing state and international education standards that include sexual health content; the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Kindergarten – 12th Grade; and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Mathematics, recently adopted by most states.”

The Department of Health and Human Services, of which the CDC is a part, has long since partnered with the Department of Education in standardizing just about everything they possibly can. Education opened the back door on this one and let these standards slide right in.

Remember the days when it was “sex ed,” all about the reproductive system, girls’ menstruation, and the sexes were separated for this information? Those days are long gone.

Note the change in the name, from Sex Education to Sexuality Education. That was not an accident.

The Department of Education gave a major contributor of Common Core, Planned Parenthood, a loud voice in writing the standards, and it shows. For instance:

Page 12 says:“By the end of 2nd grade, students should be able to: Use proper names for body parts, including male and female anatomy.”

Page 14 says:“By the end of 5th grade, students should be able to: Describe male and female reproductive systems including body parts and their functions. Identify medically-accurate information about female and male reproductive anatomy. Define sexual orientation as the romantic attraction of an individual to someone of the same gender or a different gender.”

Page 9 has “Guiding Values and Principles,” and this is what you will read there:

“Instruction by qualified sexuality education teachers is essential for student achievement.”
Excuse me? Standard biological information about the reproductive system is fine, teaching values is not.“Students need opportunities to engage in COOPERATIVE and ACTIVE learning strategies (I really wanted you to catch those two words), and sufficient time must be allocated for students to PRACTICE skills relating to sexuality education.”
Practice? What the h%&$ does that look like? My daughter better not be practicing anything until she’s married. Just sayin’…

While these are not all of the curriculum highlights that are offensive to many, I have to end with this doozy:

“Students need multiple opportunities and a variety of assessment strategies to determine their achievement of the sexuality education standards and performance.”

I try not to curse, but WTF?! What does “a variety of assessment strategies” to “determine their achievement of the sexuality education standards and performance” look like, exactly?

Let’s talk about the material that will be used to present the “sexuality education” to our children.

“It’s Perfectly Normal” is a book written by Robie Harris (a board member of Planned Parenthood), illustrated by Michael Emberly, endorsed by Planned Parenthood, and showing up in lower elementary classrooms across the country.

Let’s talk about what is in it.

“It’s Perfectly Normal” addresses sex, sexuality, masturbation, contraception, homosexuality, oral sex, and abortion. It is so graphic that a prison in Washington rejected it, saying that it was too pornographic in nature. But it’s ok for our school-aged children, apparently.

The book contains graphic illustrations of adult male and female bodies, and encourages children to explore their sexuality. It teaches them to masturbate, and describes sexual intercourse that “can involved the penis and vagina, or the mouth and the genitals, or the penis and the anus.” Let me stop right here and say that this is not a commentary on the rightness or wrongness of homosexuality. It is a commentary on what is appropriate for the schools to approach and what needs to be strictly left to the parents.

The book does not even mention chastity or abstinence. Further, it attacks some religious beliefs by saying “And some religions call masturbation a sin. But masturbating cannot hurt you.” Many believe that sexual activity should not take place outside of marriage, and this concept is never raised.

I am not making an effort to tell you what you should believe and how you should act. I am sharing my very strong belief, shared by millions of other parents across the nation, that these issues are private family matters and should not be in the schools at all. It is our choice to make decisions about our personal family values and to teach our children when and how WE decide, not the government.

I am writing a book about Common Core from a parent’s perspective. As I delve into the heart of the federal government’s plans for education, the extensive history behind this movement, as well as the implications, are profound and startling.

Nothing taking place in this country is occurring in a vacuum. It is all connected.

Common Core is not about education. It is about control. It’s roots go all the way back to the late 1800’s in this country, and even further in world history. The quest for a few to control the many and corner the market on money and power is phenomenal. This has been the driving force of history since the beginning of time, and is not only about education. This movement encompasses religion, globalism, government itself, the economy, finances, education, parenthood, health, freedom, and our very existence.

My journey has led me deeper into the Bible and my relationship with Jesus. God foretold the things to come, events that are occurring right now, with such clarity I don’t know how I missed it at first. I encourage you to read this article to learn more about this aspect of current events. I see it now and am grateful, but am saddened that so many more don’t.

Arne Duncan, the current Secretary of Education, once stated during a speech to the United Nations, “Today, education is a global public good unconstrained by national boundaries…education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. The United States provides over a billion dollars annually to partner countries working on educational reform.” Changing the world starts at home, and education is the weapon being used against America’s citizens–weapons attacking children–to mold attitudes and values to fit this goal of a global community.

Obamacare mimics Common Core’s prescriptiveness and data collection methods, all designed for the “common good” and to “provide better services.” Forced services, decided by government agencies, not families and individuals. Our finances have been tied to both, used as a tool to coerce adhesion. Education is further tied to “career readiness,” and “human capital tracking.” That’s right, our students are “human capital” being groomed to meet the workforce expectations laid out by large corporations and our government.

The rise of a globalized knowledge economy requires us to understand the distribution of skills and abilities in our population.

This “human capital development data system” must be developed to answer “master” policy questions that benefit each of the principal state stakeholders – theK-12 education system, the postsecondary system, and labor/workforce development system – both for accountability purposes and to inform improvements in policy and practice.

A more effective data system for accountability and policy and practice improvements could provide answers to such questions. Integrated to enable large-scale longitudinal analyses to support state educational and workforce development policy,student or individual unit-record data, linked together across K-12 education, postsecondary education, and the workforce, comprise what we call a human capital development data system (HCDDS). An HCDDS should be able capable of:• Tracking the stock and flow of the skills and abilities (represented by education and training) of various populations within a given state.• Examining the gaps in educational attainment between population groups, based on demography and socio-economic status.• Incorporating information from multiple states, given the mobility of the U.S. population and the fact that many population centers are located on state boundaries.

Given the sensitivity of SSNs and the fact that even they cannot match all individual student records “perfectly,” it is probably wise for states to adopt a broader approach to “identity matching,” (which includes birthmarks, eye color, hair color, and eventually eye scans). Such an approach would link records using a larger group of variables corresponding to student characteristics, including but not limited to the SSN (when available) or statewide student identifier.

Use of Social Security Numbers would pin all tracking data to an individual instead of aggregating it and protecting children’s privacy.

While there is still much work to be done in linking K-12 and post-secondary records, states also should be planning now for how to incorporate workforce data into their longitudinal data systems. Indeed, the federal government has made this a basic expectation for states receiving ARRA funds.

Number Ten states: “Government control of education; free education for all children in public schools; Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form and a Combination of education with industrial production”.

I encourage you to do your own research to truly understand where we are in this country.